Israeli Cyber warfare Exposed: The Hidden Graphite Scandal
A shocking and underreported story has been exposed by the WTX News team surrounding the illegal practices of Israeli surveillance firm Paragon and its espionage-grade software Graphite. The zero-click spyware, which means it can spy on your phone without you having to click to install it, was used to infiltrate journalists’ phones — with a specific focus on targeting critics of Israel and those reporting on the genocide in Gaza.
Spyware software Graphite allows total device control
It is the software that used to execute Palestinian journalists with targeted drone strikes which killed them and their families.
According to Al Jazeera Israel’s war on Gaza has killed 232 journalists – an average of 13 per month – making it the deadliest conflict for media workers ever recorded.
Israel implicated in Italy hacking scandal
Israeli backed Hackers breach sensitive government and police data in Italy
Italian law enforcement wiretapped hackers contracted by Israeli intelligence. In covert recordings, officials were caught assigning Paragon’s operatives tasks in exchange for cash. The investigation showed that the spyware software Graphite allows total device control without the user having to enable it by clicking a link — and it even cracks encrypted apps like Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram.
Ivan Scalfarotto, a senator from the opposition centrist Italia Viva party, told POLITICO that the role of foreign actors in the scandal added “a further worrying dimension to a phenomenon that presents strategic risks for the country.”
A delegation of MEPs from the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE) arrived in Rome on Friday 30 May to investigate the developments of Paragon spyware scandal to report for their next meeting on June 4th in Brussels.
It is the most dangerous spyware software and can bypass Apple and Android phone encryption, making them vulnerable to cyber attacks.
This was no rogue operation
It was founded in 2019 by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and by former Unit 8200 commander Ehud Schneorson, an associate of Jeffrey Epstein. Since 2010, Israel has moved many intelligence operations into the private tech sector, shielding the government from international backlash and opening it up to potential new clients.
It can bypass WhatsApp end to end encryption
This software is used on Palestinians, a stateless population without legal protection — turning Gaza and the West Bank into open-air test labs.
Documents from 2014 show the commander of Unit 8200 reservists admitting to blackmail tactics against Palestinians, using illegal intimate personal data from their phones as leverage to coerce and detain Palestinians.
With $6 billion in cyber exports in 2014 alone, Israeli software commands over 30% of the global cybersecurity market — and Paragon’s client list includes law enforcement and the IDF in Israel, Europe, and the US.
No-one is safe – Israeli cyber arms industry expose
According to Haaretz, In December 2024 Paragon was acquired by a Florida based investment firm. Whose parent investment firm AE investments is led by Jennifer Lowe, because of her direct access to former Senator turned Israeli lobbyist Norm Coleman.
Israeli intelligence has not given up on its cyber warfare software, in fact Ehud Schneorson now leads Israeli cyber security software called Nash, who on their website claim to serve ‘NASH is a company specializing in cybersecurity solutions for businesses, with key customers in the tech and financial sectors’, so in real terms selling spying software to banks.
Cyber security firms in Israel originate from the disgraced spyware firm Pegasus. The company that exposed for spying on 50,000 people of influence including US politicians and around the world. Among them are government ministers, human rights activists, journalists and heads of state, including French President Emmanuel Macron.